later to investigate. >> responding earlier this morning that prevented us coming in a more timely manner to this event is a series of accidents along santa teresa. one of the vehicles, which had been reported earlier, had actually driven into the house. >> reporter: when they did arrive, police had to wait another hour for animal control to remove a rottweiler and another dog so they could enter the unlocked home. that's when they found the woman dead. police are not releasing her name until they can notify her family. but they say they are definitely looking for man who lives here, who may be the victim's husband, and possibly another woman who lived here. neighbor marla hall said she often saw the victim out walking her dog. she says she is scared. >> especially if it's a homicide. i'm stunned. because you don't think that happens in this neighborhood. >> reporter: this is san jose's 41st homicide of the year, the highest murder count in 15 years. police admit budget cuts are impacting the crime rate. >> i think if we have more

resources available at the time, we certainly could have addressed it in a more timely manner, yeah, absolutely. >> reporter: now investigators are doing their best to find out how a woman ended up dead in this south san jose home. police are not saying whether or not they found a weapon. and they are also not saying tonight how the woman died. investigators say they plan to be out here for the next four or five hours continuing to search for evidence. reporting live in south san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, marianne. police are investigating several incidents around san jose where people stole cars, then smashed them into garages. this may be the latest incident at this san jose home. it happened just after 5:00 this morning. no one was hurt. the fire department was called out to shut off the gas as a precaution. the people in the car fled the scene. our latest storm continues to move through the bay area throughout the day, bringing everything from thunderstorms to snow right here in town. as for the weekend, more changes

are in store. let's bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri, who is tracking the storm and the latest. jeff? >> yeah, it's been a while, the past 24 hours for parts of the bay area that didn't even have hail that covered entire lawns in some case. what you're going to find is our cold storm system is moving off to the south. a lot of that severe weather also pushing off to the south at this point. even a reported tornado down near bakersfield, california. the other thing, of course, we're following is all of the severe reports right here in the bay area. lightning early this morning in san francisco and oakland. multiple strike there's. even hail that covered parts of 101. i drove through that right through the san francisco airport. and there was a multiple car accident. dangerous. and winds atop 40 miles per hour with at least 900 outages at its peak this morning. also, some very rare snow down to about 2500 feet at mt. hamilton. that's at the elevation of 4,360 feet. let's show you some of these pictures. you can see not only the snow,

but the roads very icy as it provided a light dusting. officially only 1 inch reported. but in some areas slightly higher accumulations. none the less, it looks really beautiful up there. and a signal that we are finally getting the weather pattern to change. you can see a few hours of showers developing off to the south. we are going to be tracking that, along with the very cold temperatures gripping the bay area. we're going to be near record-setting lows. i'll have details on that in my full forecast. >> thanks, jeff. a stunning resignation today that apparently no one saw coming. cia director david petraeus stepped down today, citing an extramarital affair. the woman is reportedly his biographer. and the fbi is investigating not because of any wrongdoing, but to see if the relationship was a security risk. president obama accepted his resignation today, saying he wishes petraeus and his wife the very best at this difficult time. the bombshell came as a surprise to many on capitol hill. petraeus was highly respected by both republicans and democrats.

>> for lack of a better term, petraeus is a legend. i mean, he is is one of the few generals in american history to get so much credit for so many things. >> petraeus was appointed to cia director last year. prior to that he was the commander of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. in a statement, he said after being married for over 37 years, i showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. such behavior is unacceptable both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. "nightly news" will have more on the surprise resignation coming up at 5:30. just two days after being reelected, it is already hectic for president obama. not only the cia shake-up, but the president today also addressing the looming budget crisis. 52 days now until the so-called fiscal cliff. mr. obama and house speaker john boehner laid out their new positions, which sound a lot like their old positions. the president says he will be flexible to a point. >> i refuse to accept any

approach that isn't balanced. i am not going to ask students and seniors and middle class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me making over $250,000 aren't asked to pay a dime more in taxes. >> the problem with raising tax rates on the wealthiest americans is that more than half of them are small business owners. >> republicans say they won't budge on taxes unless democrats bring to cut the costs of social security and medicare, starting with the raising the minimum ages to qualify. with the showdown looming over whether the police department guess into receivership, oakland is urging a middle ground. ever since 2000 where there was rampant police corruption, the department has been threatened with a federal takeover unless reforms were implemented. now with a december court date, the city is bracing for a possible takeover.

but in a 34-page court filing, city leaders argued for the appointment of a compliance director instead. they fear a federal receiver, who could fire police leadership would, quote, cripple the city. in the near future, hundreds of prisoners will be set free thanks to california voters who passed prop 36. that prop reforms the state's three-strikes law. now family members of people convicted of the so-called weak third strikes are hoping the change will bring their loved ones home. nbc bay area jodi hernandez joins us in martinez tonight with one family's story. jodi? >> reporter: raj, the public defender here in contra costa county says she has been flooded with phone calls from families who hope the change will mean their loved ones will be heading home. we had a chance to talk to one of those families today who says for the first time in a decade, they're dreaming of a reunion. >> i just thank god, you know, because it's a miracle.

i get emotional. because my mom might be able to see her son walk out a free man. and be able to hug him. >> reporter: elizabeth cruz says her family finally has hope. the passage of proposition 36 means her brother, robert john cruz may be getting out of prison. cruz is serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug possession conviction, a conviction that under the state's three-strikes law sent him away for life. >> he has paid for more than enough. he has done more than enough time already. >> reporter: cruz's mother says the punishment didn't fit the crime. and now that californians have voted to revise the law, the mother of ten is hopeful her family will soon be together again. >> i thank good for it. that he is coming home. and my heart will be complete again, and my family and my children will all be together again. we'll be happy.

>> reporter: contra costa county public defender says public defenders across the state are trying to identify who may qualify for resentencing hearings. she believes some inmates may win early release in just a matter of weeks. >> clearly, the intent of the law is to release these people who are serving these long sentences for minor crimes. and hopefully the judges will be on board with that. >> reporter: the cruz family hopes their loved one will be one of them. >> i want my brother to know that we love him, that we're waiting for him. and i can't wait to see my mom's arms around him. and when he is home, our family will be complete. >> reporter: now the public defender here says she hopes to have a list of the people who qualify some time next week. again, those folks will have to appear before a judge. but in her estimation it's a process that could take weeks, not months. and she says some folks may

actually be home for the christmas holiday. in martinez, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, jodi. san francisco is about to become the first u.s. city to provide and cover the cost of sex reassignment surgeries for uninsured transgender residents. the city's health commission voted for the plan this week, which would treat people experiencing mental distress because they feel a mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities. transgender rights advocates pushed for the coverage under the city's universal health care program, and more u.s. companies are offering coverage for this special ayed surgery. still to come here at 5:00, new hope for skiers and snowboarders. take a look. the white conditions in the sierra as we head into the weekend. plus, paying tribute to those who didn't come home. a new memorial opening the south bay. and get ready for more sniffling and suffering. the new forecasts for allergy season. good afternoon. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri in the nbc bay area

weather center. a cold storm that produced severe weather is now pushing off to the south. but we're not done yet. as you can see, some showers developing near the coastline. we're tracking that after anywhere from a quarter to a half inch of rain across the bay area.

a nice honor tonight for soldiers from san jose who gave their lives while fighting in vietnam. a committee of veterans will breck ground tomorrow on the new san jose vietnam war memorial. no public money was used, so organizers are raising funds to pay for the costs and upcape. it will be locate at the guadalupe river park across the street from the hp pavilion. the memorial honors the 142 people, all from san jose, who were killed in action. >> be able to give closure to all those families means so much to us. we're going to memorialize their sons and as you know, when you

memorialize somebody, they live forever and nobody dies. >> this project should be completed in about three months. veterans from other wars will also be able to raise their own funds who erect monuments at the same park. families in need of help this holiday season are lining up outside a local community center. hundreds of people camped out overnight at sacred heart community service to register for the holiday food and toy distribution program. the program expects to provide food boxes for thousands of families over thanksgiving and christmas. >> we're going to be preparing the food boxes next weekend. so we hope to have all the food in here by this coming friday. and right now we have four turkeys in the freezer. so you do the math on that one. >> they need a lot more donations. meanwhile, people can register for food boxes until 6:00 tonight. another registration takes place next friday. today the first shovel in the ground. the long-awaited and much needed expansion of one of the worst traffic hot spots in the south

bay. the groundbreaking today marked the start of a $62 million project that was in the works for more than a decade. crews are expecting the 880/2 880/2880/208 interchange. be warned. during construction, traffic might be a little worse than it already is. the project should be completed in the spring of 2015. it's surf up on the peninsula. well, almost. some of the world's top surfers held a traditional paddle out today, marking the opening of the window for the maverick's big wave surfing contest. the contest is invitation only, but fans can participate in the paddle out and the floating prayer circle that follows. the window for the contest is open until march 31st. contest organizelers be studying the water conditions and the weather conditions. when they're just right, they'll notify the surfers, who will arrive from all over the world to ride the big waves. but first, the snow, wow.

skiers heading to lake tahoe as we speak. traffic, needless to say is bumper-to-bumper in the sierra on highway 80 and 50, where snow has been falling heavily all day. i hear jeff ranieri oohing and ahhing over there in the weather center. there have already been several snow-related accidents. drive carefully and bring your chains. >> you know, it was beautiful today, but brisk and chilly outside. let's check with jeff right now. >> i know, you face hits it and it was almost like a freeze out there on the streets if you got that wind blowing up at about 20 miles per hour. it was definitely very blustery. our storm system extremely cold. it's what provided a lot of the instability. now the storm system is pushing off to the south. even did produce a report of a tornado down here in southern california. for us, no tornado reports. but numerous lightning strikes last night. and also, look at this. we had also some hail reports coming in the early morning hours. this one in oakland, covering the back patio and the chairs from our friends at the national

weather service. ed hartnett sending this in from oakland. if you want to send is us our pictures, #nbcbayarea. that's a look at some of the severe components. you can see the radar scans right now are not done at the current moment. we have this batch of showers we're tracking offshore. actually our computer, you can see the icon spinning around. it's picking up a little slight rotation with this region. we're not expecting any kind of tornadoes to form out of that. but it is a sign of a little more intense activity offshore that could make it here into the santa cruz mountains. so besides this activity, we're not seeing too much here left on the radar at this point. but we're not in the clear yet. speaking of current temperatures, it has been cold not only for the morning hours. near record-setting lows. but right now we is have 40s in the south bay. 46 in cupertino, or 45, rather, and 47 currently in los gatos. let's take you outside of the live hd sky camera network on this very chilly night. you can see mainly clear skies. a little bit of lift in that cloud top. but it looks like the heaviest,

the strongest activity is done with at this point. so let's get you into the futurecast. as we continue throughout tonight, what we're going to find is anything that develops is hit and miss. may get a popping near the santa cruz mountains down into the south bay. and even for tomorrow morning, we can't rule out a stray area of hours at about 6:00 a.m. but then by the late morning, also into the afternoon, we'll get in on some clear skies. plenty of sunshine, and a dry saturday afternoon. and it looks like the dry weather is going to hold off right into your sunday forecast. and look at these numbers. with a little bit of clearing expected for some spots in the north bay, we could go down to 33 in santa rosa. 32 in napa. 42 at livermore, and 35 in los gatos. so a lot of your that are going to be down near the 30s that we just pointed out may actually have a little bit of ice to do. some scraping on the windshield as you will be near record-setting lows like napa, concord, oakland and san francisco with a mix of 30s and 40s.

bundle up and grab the extra layer tonight. maybe you're lucky enough to have a fireplace. you can get that going on that. would be really good. all right. so as we head throughout saturday, a little bit of a stray morning shower. temperatures in the 50s for daytime highs. and then throughout sunday for veterans day, lots of sunshine. i saw a lot of people out in brand-new jackets today. it wasn't only the ladies, but i saw tons of guys in these new leather jackets. i need to get one. >> i'm glad you noticed. >> yeah. my job. >> thanks. well, i was honored to be part of the second annual comcast youth tech summit and expo this morning in san francisco. hundreds of students from all over the bay area came to learn how the internet and multimedia skills can help with their education and career. comcast spoke about its internet essentials program, which helps connect low income families to the internet. san francisco mayor ed lee and nbc analyst and super bowl champion coach tony dungy also spoke at today's event. >> very nice. how about access hollywood and access napa?

yes. the red carpet is coming to wine country. in fact, it's here, and it's rolling out. up next we're going to be joined by billy bush. and if you thought this year was a bad allergy season, think again. the reason doctors say allergy season is going to get worse.

stock up on tissues. new research shows allergies are going to get worse in the future. in the year 2000, pollen production began in april and peaked in may. allergists say by the year 2040, that peak will come a month earlier, and that means allergy suffering will last longer. researchers blame it on climate change. now for relief, allergy specialists recommend showering before bed, cleaning your glass, keeping your windows closed, and washing your pets that often bring allergens in from outside. the hollywood red carpet is coming to wine country. its napa valley film festival. >> and look who is on the red

carpet. our favorite hollywood import. billy bush joins us. here is how it works. if billy is in town, it's a big event. >> it's a big hollywood event. >> take it away. >> this is fantastic. you guys would not believe it. "access napa" is what we should be doing every single night. forget los angeles. this is where the action is for the napa valley film festival. year two, i hosted it last year. i'm back. i don't know if it's by popular demand, probably not, but i don't care. i'm here anyway. we have great films. we have great stars and unbelievable wine. so hey, it's awesome. >> very nice. billy, give us the nuts and bolts here. we from what we understand, 100 films and true bay area napa valley style, 100 wines. is that correct? >> oh, if it's 100 wines, i hope i don't get through all of them. i'm trying to get through most of the films. and i'm getting through a lot of the wine. but not too early, because we've

got a huge tribute program we're about to do here. allen coumming and james marsde. so i've got the three of them in a big tribute program. the house is packed at the lincoln theater. and the wine will be flowing. as soon as this is done, i am going to just throw myself into becoming a future sommelier. >> what makes this -- you've covered so many red carpet events. what makes this one difficult than the ones in hollywood? >> well, you know what? the films here, it's really for film lovers. i laughed last year when i hosted it for the first time. why is it this is the first year of the napa valley film festival? wine and film have belonged together, and should it be the 50est year. so look, we finally got it going.

and these are real film lovers' films. they're very artsy and yet they still attract big stars. and in that way, it is perfect. and of course it's an excuse to go and soak your palette. i live in park city, utah. i have a house there right near the sundance film festival. it's a great festival. the los angeles film festival is great too. napa valley film festival in its first year last year, i found to be outstanding. done perfectly top to bottom, great films, great stars. and in the most beautiful setting. so i'm really excited for year too. >> billy bush, welcome to town. have fun. we'll see you out there in napa valley for the great film festival. we're back in a moment. stay with us.

okay. just in, san jose police have identified a suspect in a homicide this morning in south san jose, a woman found on her doorstep. he is troy nosenzo. he is believed to have fled in a gray chevy silverado, 8l70015. we have a lot more news ahead of us. let's bring in jessica aguirre. >> the resignation of general david petraeus continues to send shock waives throughout the country. next on "nightly," why some are questioning the timing of the announcement. and a peninsula school in danger of losing thousands of dollars because of a grinch that stole some signs. that and more at six. >> thank you so much. it's going to be chilly this weekend. >> record cold. [ female announcer ] welcome, one and all,

to a tastier festive feast. so much to sip and savor. a feeding frenzy, to say the least. a turkey from safeway will have everyone raving. there's fresh, natural, frozen, whatever your craving. spend $25, and get a frozen safeway turkey for 59 cents a pound. or spend $25, and a frozen butterball turkey, just 99 cents a pound. so raise your glass, pull up a chair, grab a plate. this tastier thanksgiving is well worth the wait. safeway. ingredients for life.